Angels-APOCALYPSE

In popular usage, apocalypse is sometimes used
to refer to nonsupernatural mass destruction,
such as the annihilation that often accompanies
warfare, as graphically depicted in the popular
1979 film, Apocalypse Now.
Derived from an ancient Greek word for
“revelation,” apocalypse originally referred to a
literary genre in which mysterious revelations
were given or explained by a supernatural figure
such as an angel. For example, the Book of Revelation,
perhaps the most familiar example of
this class of literature, begins with the assertion
that the source of the revelation about to be
related is an angel: “The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants
what must soon take place; and he made
it known by sending his angel to his servant
John” (Rev. 1:1). Apocalyptic literature generally
paints an eschatological (endtime) scenario
that includes wars—sometimes between legions
of angels and legions of demons—plagues, and
other acts of destructive violence, which is why
it acquired its destructive connotations. The genre began with Jewish
apocalyptic literature around the third century B.C.
In the contemporary period, the year 2000 on the Western calendar
led to heightened interest in popular belief about the end of
the world, with most portrayals of the endtime picturing an apocalyptic
scenario. There was a steady flow of predictions that the world
would come to an end. All such predictions, of course, have proven
to be without merit.
Interest in angels has traditionally been associated with millennialism,
especially when the millennium is viewed as emerging in
the wake of a God-directed apocalypse. This is largely because of
the importance of angels in relevant Scripture; if a work like the
Book of Revelation is taken as a literal scenario of the endtime,
then angels become significant as the central actors in the drama of
the final days.